Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1887-04-15
His name was John.

His name was John.
Then suddenly the color flashed like
a flame to the girls forehead and over
her throat and bosom. She faltered.
All eyes were upon her. Then
her color left her white as
snow. She trembled visibly
and bowed her head. She lifted it,
bit her lips. A hot red place came in
her cheeks. John Alden had rushed
wildly away, when-Boom! Boom!
Boom! came resounding sullenly on
the air, a sound they knew too we'll
Every man sprang to his feet.
"a ship in ,distress!" cried q voice
like thunder. "Alan the life.boat!
Man the life-boat!''
There were rapid robings and q rush
from the church and down the village
street toward the shore.
Oh, the sullenr oar Of the waters!
Oh! the binding Of the snow! Oh, the
guns booming signal OF DISTRESS.
Mary, rushing down the street found
q heavy coat thrown around her.
Then she bethought herself OF her un-
accustomed open-throated dress.
Oh, the sullen roar of merciless wa
tiers! Oh, the thought of human crea-
lures in peril OF life in the snowy blank
and blackness Of waters beyond! And
yet the girls heart was hot wit hin her
as she dashed through the snow; mad
with JOY, for that look which had
said: II love you;" yet wildly angry
that he should have compelled her
eyes to his Just as she said those
words. She felt the hot blood rush
up to her forehead with shame at the
thought even in the cold and thesnow
and the wind.
II will never forgive him! Never
never! never!"
And then her heart snote her for
thought of self at such O. time, and
she ran yet more swiftly toward the
shore The steps of a man were fol-
lowing, though she heard them not in
the snow. He wore no overcoao to
save him from the cold,
On shore men were already lighting
bonfires to throw out light upon the
water; and lanterns, like stars, were
moving here and there. Matches
We're applied to the heaps of straw
and drift-wood and tar and seaweeds,
and the flames sprang up to throw
strange lights and shadows on the fall
ing snow, and sullen black waters
which rose and broke in white foam.
Now the life-boat is launched. Who
will man her? How the wind blows!
How the snow blinds and deceiyes!
Who will venture life for life?
A dozen sta]wart men leap in The
minister is with them. He takes a
hand at the oars and pulls with the
skill acquired in college racing clubs
and made more practical on many a.
day off shore.
What a. weird scene it is! 4 dozen
fires throw up lurid glare, and snow
falls kissing on the flames. Here are
women wrapped in the first thing
which came to hand. One wears a
mans coat immensely too large. They
shield their eyes from the glare of the
fires with their hands and peer any
iously into the darkness, trying to
follow the lifeboat; trying to see
the struggling ship. Thinking OF hus-
bands, brothers, lovers, lost at sea,
they send up silent, agonizing prayers
to the Eternal Father who bounds
the restless waves. They know the
perils OF those who go to sea in ships.
A faint ''halloo!" from the impene-
trable white darkness tells them the
boat has reached the ship. Then
silent suspense and deeper prayers,
till the boat appears again, toiling in
rowing.
All, what wild cheers arise as she
comes to shore, and seven men, half
dead with cold are given up to the
waiting hands which shall take them
to warm hresides, and mix for them
hot drinks and turn them into COM
Portable beds.
Then the boat is pushed out again
and disappears in the Witty darkness
to return by-and-by with another half
dead freight.
Aud so they continue for many
hours, for the sinking ship holds many
souls. until-oh, JOY! the last boat
load is nearing shore.
Meanwhile the storm has grown
wilder, and the snow blows more blind
ingly. The waves break higher and
higher. Will the lite-boat live this
time, or will she, with her hero-crew, be
engulfed in yon mighty rolling wave?
All! 1t is on her! It breaks. She is lost!
No! She rights! She is dashed on shore.
Men rush into the waters with a
rope tied from waist to waist and
catched them from the return wave.
They are saved! Hurrahl hurrah!
hurrah! But-what? Man missing?
The minister? Oar snapped? Work
ed lik tiger!
A girl is rushing along the shore
in the weird freight, reaching
out arms toward some object
in the waters. 1t is going out!
1t is tossed back on the next high
wave! God only knows how she saved
it-with what superhuman energy she
dashed at the waves and saved it from
their grasp. God only knows how
loves instinct led her with loves sharp
eyes, to see to that one point at the
one instant when it was possible to
save!
She drags him up from the seething
waters beyond their reach on the shore.
She slips off the overcoat she is wear.
ing and wraps it about him. She places
her hand on his heart, her face to his
face.
They find her there, and carry him
to her fathers house, and lay him
down on the warm hearthstone before
the blazing wood fire in theroom where
yesternight the spinning wheel stood,
and Mary smiled dreamily as she lis
tened to it's hum.
The girl in her blue dress clinging
wet about her, kneels by his side. She
has torn the white handkerchief from
her throat to wipe the water from his
face. Her golden hair hangs struggling
and wet and stringy over her shout.
ders. She bends over him and bit